The past few months have been busy ones for the Old Scotch Collegians. As our acting Headmaster, Mr Ledger, mentioned in his reflection in the 14 August issue of The Thistle, the OSC retained possession of the Festival of the Boot trophy for the third year in a row, the Old Boys' Association from Christ Church Grammar School. The most important aspect of the day, of course, was the opportunity to share both the great rivalry and great camaraderie between Scotch and Christ Church, both on and off the field. Not even torrential rain late in the afternoon deterred "the stayers" from their post-game celebrations!

The Class of 1977 Forty Year Reunion was also held in August, with Old Boys travelling in from interstate and overseas to catch up with past schoolmates. Nobody, of course, had changed a day!

The Old Scotch Collegians have also been active within the school community. We are in the midst of providing a series of leadership speakers for groups of Year 8 students, comprising of Senior Constable Ian Blow ('79) from Western Australia Police, emergency physician Dr Tom Hitchcock ('79), Brigadier David Thompson AM ('79), Aidan Read ('16) who is an international race car driver for Lamborghini, Jonathon Blaxell ('93) from Fire and Rescue and horse whisperer Heath Stewart ('93).

Last week was Arts Week, and a number of Old Boys took part in activities around the school, including giving up their time to speak with students and parents about the realities of working within creative fields. Special thanks to Professor Ted Snell AM ('66), James Giddy ('13), Eddie Atchison ('16) and Mark Zagar ('80). Special mention and our thanks to Ted Snell, who is now one of the most distinguished senior arts professionals in the state. Ted is a practicing artist and the Chief Cultural Officer of the University of Western Australia, and he spoke passionately about the incredible value boys get from artistic and visual literacy and facility, particularly in our increasingly image-laden world. Ted also fondly remembered working on his own arts projects at Scotch with the late Mrs Eileen Keys, now recognised as one of Australia's foremost mid-century potters.

We are now gearing up for the remaining events of 2017.

NOBS - our New Old Boys - from 2016, 2015 and 2014 are invited to take time out and head down to Varsity Bar on Thursday 12th October.

Our annual signature event, Founders' Day Dinner, will be held on Friday 20th October and will feature the Commanding Officer of the Special Air Service Regiment as the speaker.

The inaugural St Andrew's Vale Service will be on Thursday 30th November and the wider Scotch community are invited to attend to remember loved ones who have passed during the year.

To support the Re-opening and Rededication of the Memorial Hall on Founders Day, the OSC have commissioned a series of beautiful Heritage Posters, featuring various iconic Scotch College buildings and images of boys and their activities from our past. We look forward to sharing these with our community in coming weeks.

While the Scotch College tagline is "Preparing boys for life", that of the OSC is "A community for life" - within the peer years and decade cohorts, and from our connection to the school itself. And in this 120th anniversary year for the College, the 70th anniversary year for the Pipe Band, and the 60th anniversary year for the Memorial Hall, this has never been more true.